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A review by keith_button
The Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges
5.0
Chris Hedges argues that six pillars prop up the liberal establishment: the press, culture, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities, and the Democratic Party. These institutions, according to Hedges, are vital to a functioning democracy—they offer a “safety valve” for popular frustrations and discontent by discrediting those who talk of profound structural change as well as advocate the interests of the poor, working, and middle classes against the exploitation of the corporate state. As Hedges states:
“The loss of the liberal class creates a power vacuum filled by speculators, war profiteers, gangsters, and killers, often led by charismatic demagogues. It opens the door to totalitarian movements that rise to prominence by ridiculing and taunting the liberal class and the values it claims to champion. The promises of these totalitarian movements are fantastic and unrealistic, but their critiques of the liberal class are grounded in truth.”(21)
The Death of the Liberal Class discusses the breakdown of these various institutions over the last 100 years, beginning with America’s involvement in World War 1. WW1, a conflict in which the primary benefactor of America’s involvement in the war were bankers and industrialists. These groups wanted to ensure that their massive loans to the European powers would be repaid, which would not happen if Germany won the war. The best way to ensure America’s war involvement would be through a massive propaganda campaign, persuading the population to be enthusiastic war supporters. This propaganda campaign prompted the corporate takeover of America and resulting decline of the liberal class.
Over the next century, Hedges describes how anti-communist witch-hunting grinded down the liberal class until it because a cog in the capitalist machinery, cannibalizing any dissenting voices. Hedges mentions a few exceptional individuals who maintained their integrity despite such strong external pressure (i.e. Noam Chomsky, Howard Zimm, Ralph Nadar, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X). For the exception of these few extraordinary individuals, the liberal class has largely sold out their constituents as they grew more and more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress.
“The loss of the liberal class creates a power vacuum filled by speculators, war profiteers, gangsters, and killers, often led by charismatic demagogues. It opens the door to totalitarian movements that rise to prominence by ridiculing and taunting the liberal class and the values it claims to champion. The promises of these totalitarian movements are fantastic and unrealistic, but their critiques of the liberal class are grounded in truth.”(21)
The Death of the Liberal Class discusses the breakdown of these various institutions over the last 100 years, beginning with America’s involvement in World War 1. WW1, a conflict in which the primary benefactor of America’s involvement in the war were bankers and industrialists. These groups wanted to ensure that their massive loans to the European powers would be repaid, which would not happen if Germany won the war. The best way to ensure America’s war involvement would be through a massive propaganda campaign, persuading the population to be enthusiastic war supporters. This propaganda campaign prompted the corporate takeover of America and resulting decline of the liberal class.
Over the next century, Hedges describes how anti-communist witch-hunting grinded down the liberal class until it because a cog in the capitalist machinery, cannibalizing any dissenting voices. Hedges mentions a few exceptional individuals who maintained their integrity despite such strong external pressure (i.e. Noam Chomsky, Howard Zimm, Ralph Nadar, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X). For the exception of these few extraordinary individuals, the liberal class has largely sold out their constituents as they grew more and more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress.